Avery Mephistopheles Stout

Brewed by Avery Brewing Company
Style: Imperial Stout
Boulder, Colorado USA

Black with minimal light brown head and no mentionable lazings. Aroma is sweet, somewhat salty and alcoholic. Promises heavy roasted and sweet flavours which it delivers. Rather simplistic and straight forward, a bit too burned and sweet.

2007 vintage. Dark brown, basically black. A small beige head settles kind of fast and leaves minimal lacings. The smell is loaded with aromas of dark chocolate and cocoa. Lots of coffee and roasted malts as well. The alcohol is very noticeable and with deep breaths I pick up lots of piercing and slightly medicinal alcohol fumes. After a while, hints of wet blanket appear, a result from the cellaring I guess and I suspect that further cellaring wouldn’t do this any good. The taste is sweet at first with aromas of roasted malts, chocolate and espresso. The acidity you sometimes get from roasted malts is kept at bay. Notes of dark fruits, prunes and licorice. The alcohol becomes present already in the mouth and increases in strength toward the finish. There are some bitter flavors in the finish, but most of all there is a powerful taste of sweet and basically burning alcohol with notes of raisins and wood. The finish is very long and the taste of alcohol sticks around for ever in the mouth. Full bodied with a somewhat creamy texture. I don’t think this one completely manages to pull of what it tries to achieve. A 16% ABV imperial stout is risky business and lots of things can go wrong with such a brew, and this one holds up reasonably well. But although well integrated, the alcohol gets a little to prominent and basically eradicates any possible subtleties to appear, so complexity gets a little low. But it’s still fairly balanced and other than the overly powerful alcohol, I enjoyed it. Serving type: bottle (Copy of old Beer Advocate review)

BOOM! Got this bottle at Surdyk’s in Minneapolis a month or so ago. Poured with a medium tan head and no lace. Aroma was heavy with dark bread dough, malt, molasses, and dark, ripe fruit. Color is opaque black on black. Flavor is a slammer - with all of the aroma components plus a bit of roastiness, big sweet - bitter - sweet alternations and a real strong booziness. Really tastes like it has been spiked with some booze - hard to say which. Very strong alcohol finish with a little bittersweet highlight. Not a session beer.

This is one beer to savor.  At nearly 16%ABV (2008 vintage) this is a serious, no kidding, super beer. Best when served at slightly warmer temps, its flavors and aroma bloom with warmth.  Poured into a snifter, it starts off it’s lifein the glass with a largebrown head and a deep, solid black body.  It’s aroma is of caramelized malts and pit fruits with a hint of coffee and anise.  Start sipping this one slow, because although the bouquet is sweet and inviting, the flavor and palate kick your mouth in the arse.  Additional sips reveal coffee and other results of a very high gravity brew ...with an almost airy alcohol mouthfeel and a bitter espresso finish.  The lacing is thick and strong and keeps a thick rim around the edge of the glass. Whatever you do, don’t chug this... It may make you nauseous.  This is a sipper, and every sip is divine.  A real man’s beer! 

Bottle, batch 3. Black colour with a brown head. Aroma: roasted malt, dark fruitiness, alcohol, chocolate, coffee, salted fish, light medicin. Flavor: sweet, roasted, dark fruits, burning alcohol, coffee, dark chocolate, cherries, licorice, saltiness, wood. Fairly complex, but the alcohol is a bit too overpowering.

Bottle, batch 4. Pours a midnight black, touches of brown along the edges, medium, milk-chocolate head that lasted through the first few hits. Aroma is subdued, faint nuances of malt, chocolate and a touch of coffee. Alcohol hits you right up front with the first hit, burnt malt, faint notes of chocolate and coffee lingering under the alcohol burn. Finishes sweet and lingering burnt malt. A lot going on with this one, I have an ’06 sitting in the cellar, may have to break it out and see if some age mellowed it at all.

Pours pitch black, dark dark. Nice rich brown head some lacing. Aroma fruity malty, not real strong, but present. Nice complex flavor. This is a 2007 batch, had sit for several months at my place... some chocolate and coffee. Heavy stout, some alcohol, fruit. This is pretty smooth good stuff. A little pricey, but I’d get it again.

Bottled sample. Maybe not a fair rating. Pours a black color with a brown head. Very powerful chocolate and fruity aroma. Quite sweet, rich taste with lots of roasted coffee, chocolate and dried fruits. Fullbodied & thick.